Halo 4: Rise of a Hero

I've enjoyed the Halo series for a long time now. Not only the books but the game plot as well. This was just something ive been working on for a bit and my friend recommended i post it up here. However this is my first time posting and my formatting seems to have disappeared. So bear with me. Hope you enjoy.


Master Chief and Cortana had been drifting in space for weeks not knowing what lied ahead of them. The ships front section had been transported to Earth. Or At least Cortana had hoped it made it through the slip-space portal. She still had control of primary systems but due to the condition of the ship she couldn’t activate the shaw fajuki sub-light engines. If she did the ship would rip apart. The ship slowly drifted toward a nearby planet. Once they closed within 5000 meters of the planets atmosphere Cortana began to see strange lights appear on the planets surface. She immediately awoke the Chief from his stasis pod.

“Chief…Chief” said Cortana in a worried voice.
The chief slowly awoke, groggy from the hibernated sleep. He heard Cortana mumble something, but couldn’t quite understand her.

“Cortana Status Report” Said the Chief in a clear cut voice.

“Chief the UNSC still hasn’t found us, were drifting dangerously close to the ships atmosphere were on a collision course. Said Cortana in a frightened voice.

“Do we have rear thrusters can you correct course?” said Chief In a quick and decisive tone.

“Yes I can, but there’s something on the planet below us. I think I might actually be able to land the ship in one piece. The forward sections wouldn’t survive but the remaining parts of the ship should still stay relatively intact.” Said Cortana

“What do you mean there’s something on the planet below us?” said Master Chief.

“Frontal Sensor array is offline, but I’m picking up energy spiked readings across the entire planet. Its almost as if something has activated when we came within proximity of the planet” said Cortana.

“You said you could safely land this ship? Using just rear sublight and the surrounding thrusters?” said Master Chief in a worried tone.

“Ive calculated out a trajectory, The ship would go bottom in, The front part of the ship no longer has any heat shielding, but if we go in aft first the rear compartments of the ship should be able to withstand the heat. I’m not sure if the engines would survive, but I can create a counter burn upon entering the atmosphere. Once I slow us down I can use the ships thrusters to guide and land the ship. We wont be able to get back into space this would be a one way trip. I’m also doubting that the antenna arrays broadcasting our signal would survive as well.” Said Cortana.

“What are our chances of our forces detecting our signal.” Said Master Chief

“Chief I’m going to be honest with you. There is little to none we went through Earth’s slip-space generator that went to the Ark. There’s no way the UNSC could have tracked where the ships went. The only way for them to find us is to locate where ever we are in space and come within close enough range to pick up our signal. I’ve calculated our position but its nearly ten thousand light years from UNSC space. Chances are very slim that they’ll find us.” Said Cortana.

“Then we have only one choice. Prepare to land is there anything you need me to do before we land” said Master Chief in a hustled tone.

“Well the frontal sections of the ship have some computer equipment, mainly AI transportation crystals and some sensory equipment. If you can I’d like you to move them into cryo bay two and place them inside the remaining cryo tubes.” Said Cortana
“Okay on my way” said Master Chief.

The Master Chief prepared the supplies Cortana had asked. It was more than he had expected, most of this was survey machinery. He wondered if the Captain had prepared to setup camp on the Ark. Once he packed everything into the cryo tubes in bay two he went back to cryo bay one.

“Okay Cortana all the supplies are in the cryo tubes. Anything else?” said Master Chief.

“I want you to fit as much weaponry and armor as you can fit in Escape Pod 1, I also want you to bring three AI crystals. Once you supply the ship implant one of the crystals in the launch pods computer system.” Said Cortana

“Were not going down with the ship?” Said Chief in a confused tone

“No I’ve written a subrouteine to land the ship. I’m not taking any chances. I know for a fact we can survive if we land in an escape pod. However the supplies and possibily that we might be able to get the ship back into space is something I’d rather not lose.” Said Cortana.

“How are we going to get this ship back into space?” Said Chief once again confused.

“No time for me to explain it we are entering the atmosphere in one hour. Hurry and pack up the supplies we need.” Said Cortana

The Chief hurried down to the armory and quickly packed supplies. Three SAM Anti-Air Rocket launches and 30 rockets seemed reasonable, 5 MA5B Rifles with 600 rounds of ammunition, two MD5 Pistols with 600 rounds of ammunition, One Sniper Rifle with 200 rounds of ammunition, and 3 Battle Rifles with 600 rounds of ammunition. Once he packed all these things into the Escape Pod he went back for anything else he might need. He packed 5 lotus anti-tank mines, 6 sentry turrets, electronic shielding blankets, a portable radar sensor array, a UNSC standard issue laptop, and some medical supplies. Once he finished getting these things into the escape pod it looked pretty packed. He inserted the AI crystal into the escape pods onboard computer.

“Cortana I’ve finished packing the escape pod are we ready?” Said Chief in an eager voice.

“Almost I’m downloading all of the information ive collected so far onto the crystal you just inserted into the escape pods computer, here in a moment I’ll need you to swap it out. Please place this on yourself we cannot afford to lose this. I need to free up some bulk data so I can be fully active during our descent.” Said Cortana.

“Just give me the signal” said Chief.

Cortana quickly wrote down all the information she had on Forerunner technology, and the covenant data. After this she erased this part of her memory with an address leading to the second crystal. Chief watched as the escape pods holographic display flickered as she wrote the information to the crystal.

“Okay Chief I’m done please insert the main crystal” said Cortana in an un-assured voice.

The Chief quickly replaced the crystal. He watched as the holographic display began to rebuild Cortana’s image. After a few moments she appeared lucid.

“Okay Chief my subroutines are going to initiate an orbital descent burn. This may feel a little rough we have to go in backwards.” Said Cortana with a small smile on her face.
The ship shuddered under its own weight as the rear of the ship faced its destination. The engines purred and brightened as they began to enter the atmosphere.

“Inititializing counter thrust. Were upside down.” Said Cortana.

The ship quickly spun around the Chief could feel the motion even through his suit. After a few moments it stopped and the ship began to accelerate toward the planet.

“Chief strap yourself in this is going to be a difficult launch.” Said Cortana.

“No we’ll be fine.” Said Chief

This instantly reminded her of their first encounter with halo installation 04. She prepared the pod for launch and made the final adjustments. She read the engine temperatures as they reached dangerous levels. She cranked out as much of the cooling systems as she could to sustain them. If they hoped to get this ship running again they’d need those engines. Not only will they provide as an efficient power source on the planet, but a last resort in the case that something goes wrong. The ship began to whine under the increased pressure it was sustaining. Oddly the frontal sections of the ship were experiencing little heat damage.

“Chief I’m launching the pod in 10 seconds brace yourself.” Said Cortana

The Chief straddled and grabbed the two chairs next to him. The ship immediately fired its rear engines to begin to slow down their descent. The escape pod launched just as she did this propelling them toward the planets surface.

“Launch successful my subroutines will take care of the ship this landing is going to be rough.” Said Cortana.

“As if your driving were any good.” Said the Chief as he smiled under his faceplate.

Cortana returned the smile on the escape pods display. The Chief watched through the front viewport as the ship glided toward the planet. This was the first time he had ever seen an orbital return on a ship backwards. He was amazed the rear engines hadn’t overheated and detonated by now. The escape pod shuddered and violently lurched nearly knocking the Chief off his feet.

“Were experiencing some serious turbulence I’m trying to re calculate, but the escape pod is hardly responding.” Said Cortana in a terrified tone.

The Chief stared as the approaching ground became larger in his display. They were going to fast they needed to slow down.

“Activating Air Bags” said Cortana

The escape pods rear air bags deployed. The Chief was thrown forward but he clenched even harder on the two seats next to him. This looked like it was going to be another hard landing.

“Were coming in to fast, I’ll try and slow her down, but were coming in hot. Hold on.” Said Cortana shrilling as she spoke these words.

The escape pod began to drift closer toward the planet. The Master Chief could see the treeline. They were going to be landing in an open area. He could already tell this was really going to be a difficult landing.

Cortana drifted the escape pod toward the ground. It was entirely covered in a thick foliage there was no open place to land. She saw a lake just ahead and immediately aimed the escape pod toward it. If they could knock some speed off of their impact with the water that would greatly increase their chances. The escape pod glided and struck the lake with a large thud. They began to skid across the water bobbing up and down each time slowing their speed greatly. Finally the lake began to disappear behind them. The escape pod entered the tree line. The ground beneath it tore at the ships protective metal. The screams were deafening. The Chief looked ahead and noticed a cluster of rocks. He quickly braced himself bending the two seats. The Escape Pods belly struck the rocks and upon impact it left a huge tear across its hull. Finally the pod came to a stop.

“That was a rough ride” said Master Chief

“Wait one moment.” Said Cortana perturbed.

The Chief noticed her eyeing behavior. He knew she was watching the ship as it descended through the atmosphere. The Chief immediately heard the defeaning boom as it began to land. The sound finally became distant.

“Chief she landed safe. Minor damage reported, I’m picking up some interference communicating with the ships auxillery computer. There must be something blocking the signal. She touched down 5 clicks south of us in an open valley. I’m hoping the reactor cores didn’t overload during re entry.” Said Cortana.

The Chief lowered his stance. This was good news. Finally a break for them, they landed safely and their supply ship was intact. He grabbed Cortana’s AI crystal, implanted it in his onboard port and packed up a few supplies. It was going to be a long walk. He took 1 MA5B Rifle with 300 rounds, Sniper Rifle with 150 rounds, and some medical supplies. The Chief also hefted a SAM launcher on his shoulder and put a few rockets in his leg compartments.

“There is a forerunner structure about two clicks south of us. It must be whats causing the interference. I’m not detecting any motion, thermal, or lifesigns within the vicinity of us, seems clear.” Said Cortana in an Exasperated voice.

The Chief Hoisted the rocket launcher on his left shoulder and held the MA5B rifle in his right.

“Chief, i’d rather you take those six sentries. We wont be able to make it to the ship before dark. You’ve been awake for over 72 hours, you can setup a perimeter around the forerunner structure and I’ll wake you if anything happens.” Said Cortana.

The Chief wasn’t happy about holstering his MA5B rifle and hoisting the turrets on his right shoulder, but she was right. He hadn’t slept in who knows how long. Everything had happened so fast back on Earth. He looked back and wondered if the Elites had kept their promise to help save Earth and kill the Profit of Regret. The Chief packed up the sentries and began to head south toward the facility.

“So any idea of what this structure is?” said Chief

“Energy readings detect a large output of energy from its core. However I don’t have any other information. It doesn’t seem to follow any of the previous forerunner technology that we’ve seen before.” Said Cortana

The Chief continued along a small creek that ran across the forest. It seemed to lead right toward the structure. After a moment he heard a branch crack behind him. He immediately dropped the rocket launcher and sentries and pulled out his MA5B rifle.

“Cortana anything?” said Chief

“No nothing, probably just some of the forests local wildlife.” Said Cortana.

The Chief looked around. Something bothered him this didn’t seem right. He continued to look around tracing the tree line and observing the forest ahead. Not a single sight of any animal life.

“Cortana don’t you think it a bit strange that we don’t see any wildlife other than the trees?” said Chief.

“We’ll maybe they were all wiped out by the flood during the initial attack against the forerunners. Who knows where we are or what this place is. The closer we get to this structure the stronger the energy readings head down into the planets core.” Said Cortana.

The Chief packed up his supplies once again and headed toward the structure. He wasn’t happy that they were on an alien world in a part of space that barely human nor covenant even knew about. The Ark had been placed in a strategic position, but why would a nearby planet have forerunner structures? A question he’d have to have answered. It took about two hours to come within viewing distance of the forerunner structure. The Chief noticed that it was beginning to get dark. He didn’t feel like camping out in unknown territory he didn’t know.

“Chief its starting to get dark I’m going to turn on your suits flashlight system. You might be able to see, but I cant.” Said Cortana in a toying voice.

The Chiefs visor headlamps turned on illuminated the path ahead. He saw that the creek he had been following flowed right past the rear of the structure. He hurried towards one of the doors. As he came closer the path lead down a steep hill the door he had seen wasn’t on ground level. Finally after a few more moments he came to the side of the forerunner structure it was huge. Much larger than anything he’d seen on halo.

“Uh Cortana how am I supposed to get up to that door?” said Chief.

“One moment Chief.” Said Cortana.

The Chief could feel her thinking about the situation and what to do. He missed these moments from the constant toil of battle he always wondered what it would have been like without the war.

“Chief it looks like it uses a transporter there should be one nearby.” Said Cortana

The Chief looked around and saw nothing. A few moments later an indicator appeared on the Chiefs Visor.

“Here Chief.” Said Cortana

The Chief headed back up the steep rise and noticed a small pedestal next to a tree.

“What should I do?” said the Chief

“Place your hand on the pedestal I’ll do the rest.” Said Cortana

The Chief placed his hand on the console. Cortana’s laces of energy flowed down his arm and into the Pedestal it began to glow a bright blue and the Chief was surrounded by glowing yellow energy. A few moments later he appeared next to the door.

“It uses a similar grid to those on Halo. However it seems that this world has structures that have the power source built in.” said Cortana.

This was a relief to the Chief. He remembered the last time he had Cortana drain the power required for the forerunners transportation technology from his suit. She wasn’t even sure if the nuclear reactor that powered his suit wouldn’t detonate. Once the Chief regained his balance he walked toward the door. It seemed a lot thicker than the ones he had seen on Halo.

“Place your hand on the pedestal near the door.” Said Cortana
Chief reached for the pedestal and touched it. Cortana accessed the doors controls and opened them. It seemed to take her a noticeably longer amount of time.

“Higher Security?” said Chief

“Ugh Much Higher everything in this structure seems locked down. Almost alert. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Ark being destroyed.” Said Cortana.

“Do you think the entire Ark was really destroyed?” said Chief.

“The Halo ring detonated after it fired. It hadn’t had enough time to fully initialize and the power conductors that ran along the rings subsystems conflicted with the firing sequence. Basically once it fired they overloaded and created a thermonuclear bomb ten million times that of anything the UNSC could produce. I highly doubt if anything is left. I’m more worried about and flood infested ships that might have tried to escape the Ark and land here.” Said Cortana

“You think the Flood landed here?” said Chief in a worried tone.

“I’m not sure there was some debree that burned up in the atmosphere, but I kept an eye out for any signals from nearby ships that we could’ve called for help. I’m just saying it’s a possibility and I hope I’m wrong.” Said Cortana.

“That makes two of us.” Said the Chief

The Chief walked through the door. The first room was a small corridor it looked like it lead to two other hallways.

“Take a left.” Said Cortana

When the Chief reached the end of the corridor he took a left. This lead to multiple rooms they were all locked down.

“Ahead there will be a large door. Itll look like a UNSC blast door, place your hand on the pedestal next to it.” Said Cortana

“How do you know which way to go?” said Chief.

“Call it a hunch.” Said Cortana

The Chief never heard Cortana say hunch that often. Once he neared the end of the hallway it opened up and the huge bulkhead door Cortana described was right in front of them. He placed his hand once again on the doors pedestal. It took Cortana about three minutes to get the door open.

“I take it this is an important room?” said Chief

“This is the security room. It should give us access to the rest of the facility.” Said Cortana

The Chief watched as the bulkhead door slowly raised. He entered into what seemed like a computer lab. Dozens of projections were on the walls with many chairs surrounding it. It did indeed look like a security room. The Chief approached the console near the rear of the room.

“Try there” said Cortana

The Chiefs HUD placed an icon on a cylinder looking symbol on the control panel. He took out Cortana’s AI crystal and placed it in the console. After a few moments the bulkhead doors began to close and an image of Cortana appeared in front of the Chief.

“Chief why don’t you go ahead and setup a perimeter around that door. I’ll monitor the room while you get some sleep. Its going to take some time for me to sort through security protocols. It could take awhile.” Said Cortana

The Chief placed the Sentry turrets in a delta squad pattern. 2 in the rear 1 in the center and 2 in the front near the center of the room. After that the Chief sat in one of the chairs next to the security console.

“Your not going to sleep?” said Cortana

“Maybe in a bit.” Said Chief

Cortana knew the Chief wouldn’t sleep intentionally while she was working. She accessed his suits systems and initiated a restart cycle. The suit injected the Master Chief with a sedative and shut down. The Chief slowly drifted out of consciousness. She locked down the bulkhead door and powered the turrets online just in case. As she worked she couldn’t quite tell, but she felt almost as if she was being watched. None of the doors within this forerunner structure seemed to want to open through the security room controls. She had some work ahead of her.